State water, land briefs

Reclamation storage contract

The Bureau of Reclamation will conduct negotiations for a storage contract with the city of Fernley, Nevada. Under Title II of Public Law 101-618, Section 205(b)(1), Reclamation is authorized to enter into contracts for the use of space in Truckee River reservoirs. Contracts must be consistent with the terms and conditions defined in the Truckee River Operating Agreement.

The negotiations will be held at 9 a.m. April 13, April 15 and April 22 at the Fernley City Hall, 595 Silver Lace Blvd..

If negotiations are completed prior to the last sessions, the final sessions may be cancelled without public notice. The public is welcome to observe the negotiations and may make comments once they are completed.

For information, contact Rena Ballew, Lahontan Basin Area Office, Carson City, at 775-884-8342 (TTY 800-877-8339) or rballew@usbr.gov.

TCID MONTHLY MEETING

The Truckee Carson Irrigation District Board of Directors will have its monthly meeting on Tuesday at 9 a.m. at 2666 Harrington Road.

Tungsten Mountain Geothermal PROJECT DECISION

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Carson City District, Stillwater Field Office, has issued a decision for the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Tungsten Mountain Geothermal Development Project, proposed by Ormat.

The project area is in Churchill County about 60 miles east of Fallon.

Ormat will construct, operate and maintain the Tungsten Mountain Geothermal Development Project. This EA analyzed the potential impacts from the development of this project including the following:

The construction and operation of two geothermal power plants;

Up to 24 geothermal production and injection well pads and wells;

Geothermal fluid pipelines;

Build approximately 17 miles of a generation tie line;

Construct access roads and ancillary facilities.

A copy of the EA is available at the Carson City District BLM Office and on the webpage at: http://1.usa.gov/1QWnTTL.

For information, call Jason Wright at 775-885-6000.

lawsuit filed against blm-nevada

The Western Watersheds Project filed a lawsuit this week against the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada over its approval of new fences in important sage-grouse habitat on the Argenta allotment. Fences harm sage-grouse in a variety of ways.

The decision to build the fences along six sections of streams on public lands was made without full environmental review and independent of pending analyses that will decide whether grazing in those areas can continue at all. The lawsuit alleges that the BLM’s action will bias that forthcoming decision, due by the end of 2017.

The Argenta allotment in the Battle Mountain District is the subject of much controversy already because livestock operators there have resisted the BLM’s drought closures and instead bullied the BLM into considering a slew of proposals for new livestock infrastructure to justify more grazing on the badly degraded public lands. Rather than insist upon needed rest periods, the BLM has caved to rancher demands to allow their herds back onto the parched landscapes and enabled that use by approving the contested fencing.